The 11 Best Comedy Specials by Women to Stream Right Now

When Joan Rivers snorts a line of Lipitor before she hits the stage, it's clear that the 70-something star means (funny) business. Don't Start With Me is brutal and biting, but what would you expect from the Queen of Mean? Rivers—or as she calls herself, "the best act in her price range"—is hilarious, acid-tongued, and not known for being politically correct in any form. She strafes the audience with her jokes and no one is safe, but they're still laughing. (Amazon)

Before she was a Ghostbuster or making us laugh each week on Saturday Night Live, Leslie Jones was upstaging Katt Williams on his headlining comedy tour. Even in Jones's first-ever comedy special, it's clear that she has star power. She is by turns self-deprecating ("I got some big-ass feet. I wear a size 12. In men's. When I walk in Payless it gets quiet") and self-promoting ("Y'all know I can play basketball") and all-around hilarious. (YouTube)

A certain subset of the population will nod understandingly when Jen Kirkman talks about eating a block of cheese like a sandwich, her experience as an accidental cougar, or getting uninvited to a couples' dinner. Those are her people. Kirkman talks openly about her life as a single lady, happily embracing her cynicism, and emulating her 99-year-old grandmother. Since you will definitely want more of Kirkman's gimlet-eyed comedy, follow with Just Keep Livin'?, her latest special. (Netflix)

As anyone who has seen her Netflix series Lady Dynamite can attest, Maria Bamford has managed to turn her suicidal depression and psychological scars into comedy gold. It would be cruel to laugh at another person's pain, save for the fact that it's Bamford herself making the jokes. In The Special Special Special, Bamford performs in front of an audience of two: her parents, supportively sitting there as their daughter talks about the agony of mental illness, hospital stays, and, for some reason, Paula Deen, turning her pain into laughter before their eyes. (Amazon)

Ali Wong was seven-and-a-half months pregnant when she recorded Baby Cobra, and her bulging stomach played the foil for her uncompromising, lewd, and jaw-dropping jokes about using the bathroom in the office and where she likes to put her thumbs during sex. Wong also uses her pregnancy as a gateway to comment on women in comedy: "It's very rare and unusual to see a female comic perform pregnant, because...female comics don't get pregnant.... Once they do get pregnant, they generally disappear." It's a reminder that being funny is just half the battle for women in comedy. (Netflix)

Somehow, when Tig Notaro removes her jacket and shirt to reveal the scars from her double mastectomy, her steady stream of jokes barely slows down—and neither do the laughs. "I'm just a person," Notaro says reassuringly throughout the show, reminding us that the scars don't make her a hero (although she is one to many people). Notaro's self-professed stunt normalizes the experience of breast cancer by making us laugh with her. Regardless of her state of undress, Notaro's notoriously deadpan delivery packs a serious punch, whether she's talking about a string of flops, ice-cream mustaches, or introducing her fiancée to her Mississippi family in all their shoeless glory. (HBOGo)

Amy Schumer may be a bona fide Hollywood star now thanks to Trainwreck and Inside Amy Schumer, but in this special, she has no qualms about pointing out that something's rotten in Tinseltown. Whether it's the unlikeliness of Rosario Dawson being interested in Kevin James in Zookeeper or being required to get a trainer for a role in a film ("He's smiling at me, trying to be brave, like you would for a burn victim"), she doesn't hold back at the industry's ridiculousness. She also turns that sharp humor on herself, chugging wine straight from a bottle on stage and recounting stories about hitting puberty early: "I was like this jack-o'-lantern with tits walking around." Do yourself a favor, though, and don't watch with your mom (or your son, like one unlucky mom in the audience discovered). (HBOGo)

Back when she still needed a last name, Ellen DeGeneres was a stand-up comic making her way up the ranks—and she really was a scream. Filled with observational humor, her wry sets were delivered with a breezy manner that immediately made you feel like you were talking to a friend at the lunch table—one who never shied away from having an honest laugh at her own expense. When you've binged all the episodes of her talk show stored on your mom's DVR, move on to Ellen's 2003 comedy special and marvel at where she started: on a stage making her audience cry-laugh. (Amazon)

If you're in need of a role model for how to laugh through the pain—or you're simply a fan of deeply human, deeply felt comedy—look no further than Laurie Kilmartin's hilarious, painful, and cathartic 45 Jokes About My Dead Dad. The set is exactly as advertised, with Kilmartin cycling through grief over her father's death and pushing gallows humor to its outer limits. "I take comfort in the fact that he died doing what he did best: growing tumors," she says. "It was a skill he learned late in life, but, boy, he turned into a world-class master." It's dark, for sure, but Kilmartin shows that laughter really can make you feel lighter. (Seeso)

Sykes filmed this special back in 2009, after the nation had elected Barack Obama as president—and after she made some controversial jokes as the speaker at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Sykes's material covers celebrity culture and the personal, addressing how she had to come out as gay, but never had to come out as black. Sykes spends a great deal of her set talking about the political landscape in the wake of Obama's election and it's fascinating now to watch how far we have—and have not—come as a nation. Watching I'ma Be Me now will hopefully light a fire under us all to keep moving forward. (HBOGo)

It always feels like Janeane Garofalo is operating under the radar, despite the fact that she clearly deserves the spotlight. In her latest comedy special, If I May, Garofalo questions everything, including whether she's really a stand-up comedian. "I'm not a strong joke writer, but I think I'd be great at a filibuster," she says. Then she proves it by unleashing a torrent of seemingly stream-of-consciousness thoughts, from the political to the personal. Her almost-jokes are honest, hilarious, and occasionally a revelation. Garofalo may wonder whether she's a stand-up, but by the end of the set, the audience has no doubt that she is exactly where she belongs. Her 1995 HBO Half-Hour also makes for good streaming. (Seeso)

Looking for more comedy? Head to Hulu, where you can stream Comedy Central's The Half Hour, with stand-up sets by Naomi Ekperigin, Fortune Feimster, Michelle Buteau, Beth Stelling, Aparna Nancherla, and many more up-and-coming, flat-out funny people.